Ukrainian prosecutors have detained several Berkut riot police officers, saying they may be behind the mass killings by unidentified snipers in Kiev on February 20. The new twist adds further mystery to the politically-loaded investigation.

The General Prosecutor’s office explained that unlike regular
Berkut troops, which went unarmed to the confrontation with
anti-government protesters, the special operations unit was
issued with sniper rifles to provide cover for their Berkut
comrades.

“Their task was, as they explained, although we don’t fully
believe them, to shoot back at advancing protesters and allow the
regular Berkut troops retreat,” acting Deputy Prosecutor
General Aleksey Baganets said.

A total of 12 officers were detained in the investigation,
including the commander of the unit. The alleged involvement of
other Ukrainian police and security units in the mass killings is
still under investigation.

February 20 was the bloodiest day of the anti-government protest in
Ukraine, which saw President Viktor Yanukovich ousted. According
to the Ukrainian Health Ministry, 42 people were killed on that
day, almost half of the total death toll in the three-month
confrontation.

Protesters and police officers alike were among killed and
injured by sniper fire, with a strong suspicion that both sides
were shot at by the same snipers with the goal of inciting more
violence.

Berkut troops, who bore the brunt of protester violence during
the Ukrainian crisis, have been blamed by Maidan activists of
police brutality and other crimes. In several incidents
protesters captured, humiliated and beat up Berkut officers.
Following the February armed coup, the riot police units were
disbanded, with troops partially reenlisting into other units and
partially resigning.

Speaking later on Thursday, acting Interior Minister Arsen Avakov
identified the unit commander under the investigation as Dmitry
Sadovnik. He added that the police officers are suspected of
killing 17 protesters.

The acting minister also reported of an alleged conspiracy
between former senior Interior Ministry officials and several
civilians to stage attacks on protesters. Avakov didn’t provide
any details on who could have killed police officers during the
stand-off, citing an ongoing investigation.

Meanwhile the new head of the Ukrainian Security Service Valentin
Nalivaichenko accused Yanukovich of planning the mass killings
“under the guise of a counter-terrorist operation.” The
ousted president earlier denied giving orders to shoot at
protesters, saying that shedding the blood of Ukrainians is
something he would never do.

Nalivaichenko also confirmed that the investigation suspects as
many as 108 members of the elite Alpha group of the Ukrainian
Security Service of participating in the mass killings. The
theory of Alpha involvement was earlier reported by the Daily
Beast. The report prompted comments from Olga Bogomolets, an
influential Maidan activist and presidential hopeful, who said it
casts doubt on the Ukrainian investigation into the killings,
which may be conducted by the same people who committed the
crimes.

The identity of the ‘Maidan snipers’ is a hot political topic
both domestically and internationally. A leaked conversation between EU foreign affairs chief
Catherine Ashton and Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet
discussed a “stronger understanding” that somebody among the new
Ukrainian authorities were behind the snipers.

Yanukovich, in his latest interview, said the radical part of the
Maidan responded with sniper fire to an agreement he signed with
opposition leaders, which among other things resulted in the
pullback of security troops from Kiev.

Earlier Aleksandr Yakimenko, the man who headed the Ukrainian
Security Service at the time of the confrontation, said the
so-called Maidan Self-Defense Force was controlling the building, from which snipers
killed people in the Kiev streets. He said he believes the
snipers could be mercenaries from former Yugoslavia.

Moscow sees another likely culprit in the killings. The radical
Right Sector group is responsible for many crimes during the
protest and was likely behind the snipers as well, Foreign
Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview on Sunday.

While the Right Sector and the Maidan Self-Defense Force were
both involved in violent confrontations with the police during
the Kiev protests, the two organizations have different leaders
and a different history with the new Ukrainian authorities.

The Self-Defense Force answered to Andrey Parubiy, who now chairs
the Ukrainian National Defense Council. Many members of the force
have enlisted into the freshly created Ukrainian National Guard, which de facto legitimized
the paramilitary organization.

Right Sector on the other hand is now at odds with the
authorities following a number of incidents, including the death
of one of its leaders, Aleksandr Muzychko, in a police raid aimed
at arresting him and a shooting by a Right Sector activist at
Kiev deputy mayor followed by a police siege of the Right Sector
headquarters in Kiev. The confrontation culminated in a
parliamentary decree demanding disarmament of illegal armed groups in
Ukraine, with the Right Sector as the prime target of the
crackdown.

Both Russia and the West, at odds on many issues over the
Ukrainian crisis, agree that an impartial and comprehensive
investigation into the sniper case was essential for future
stability in the country. But with signals coming from the
investigation looking incoherent, the Ukrainian authorities may
be tempted to spin the case for political gains, either domestic
or international.